Just One Moment: A Black Alcove Novel

by Jami Wagner

  “Luke,” Conner says my name this time.

  “All she wanted was to be herself, and you controlled her. You were actually going to force her to marry someone of your choice and not hers. I just can’t—”

  “Luke.” Three of them shout my name this time and I finally stop. Sky’s mother is in tears, and her father looks guilty. It’s only when someone nudges my arm that I notice the doctor standing in the doorway.

  “Are you Skylar’s family?” he asks. I step forward before anyone else has the chance.

  “Yes, I am,” I answer immediately.

  The doctor’s uneasy eyes glance around the room. He stops on Skylar’s father, who makes the best choice he can around me right now and nods his head.

  “She’s in recovery. The smoke caused some problems with her breathing, but she is hooked up to a machine that is helping her breathe easier. No long-term problems. She has three broken fingers in her right hand, two fractured ribs, we moved her left shoulder back in place, and were able to stitch up her few gashes. Her left leg was broken in two spots. Surgery went well, but she is on a lot of painkillers. It’s going to take her some time to heal; she’ll need someone to assist with her normal day-to-day activities when she is released. She’s pretty banged up, but she is lucky there are no internal injuries.”

  “Can I see her?” I ask. He said she’s going to be fine, but until I see her, I won’t be.

  “She’s sleeping, but it would be okay for one of you to go in.” This time he looks to her mother. “Ma’am?”

  My mouth is halfway open to protest when her father says, “I think Luke should be the one who is there when she wakes up.”

  My mind won’t be easily swayed about these two, but I am thankful that they clearly recognize their mistakes and, for once, made a choice for their daughter that she would support.

  I follow behind the doctor, ignoring the glare from the nurse’s station. We ride the elevator up two floors, and when the door opens the doctor says, “She came off the anesthesia about an hour ago, so feel free to talk to her while she sleeps. You can hold her hand, but be gentle with her.”

  I want to growl out that I’m not an idiot. But he’s just doing his job. If I had been doing mine, we wouldn’t even be here right now.

  Skylar’s is at the end of the hall. Once the doctor leaves, I stand outside for a moment.

  My heart hurts. Every piece of my body hurts. I didn’t handle my father’s death well, but I dealt with it. I stayed strong and I kept myself together. With Sky, the moment they took her away from me in that ambulance, I swear my heart stopped. I cried on the drive here, although no one knows that. I wouldn’t give a crap if they did. My chest felt like it was going to crumble to pieces right there on the car floor.

  That was the moment I knew that life without Sky isn’t a life I want. Ever. Who cares if she’s been here for only a few months and who cares that part of that time we never spoke, another part we butted heads, and the shortest part of all was when we became an us? All that matters is that she is alive and she is safe.

  After listening to Mack claim her like she was his property, it got me thinking. Yes, I want her to end up with me, but most of all I want her to want that and choose me. Choose to be happy and to be herself. If she wants all those things without me, I’ll let her go. But god, please let her pick me.

  With the twist of the knob, I take a deep breath and step inside her room. My breath catches when I see her. She’s awake and she’s beautiful.

  Skylar

  Waking up to an empty room breaks my heart. I was awake in the ambulance so I knew I would end up here, although it does take me a minute or two to remember everything. Once I do, the tears are uncontrollable. Luke isn’t here, and I didn’t know where he went. He was holding my hand when the ambulance arrived, and the last thing I saw before they closed the ambulance doors was a police officer approaching him.

  When the hospital room door opens and I see his face, I don’t care that I can see only out of one eye or that the left side of my body feels like a semi-truck ran me over. All I care about is that he’s here. He’s safe.

  He pauses in the doorway, and my vision glazes over when I see him wipe away at his own tear. He swallows and then rushes to me. I can see his struggle to comfort me in the way he reaches out to touch me but stops. He settles for sitting next to my bed and holding my hand.

  “I can’t believe that bastard tried to kill you.”

  “I’m sorry about the bookstore,” I say, wishing for once since I left home that I had the money to give to him. He needs it more than ever after the fire.

  “Seriously.” He pulls back and kisses my forehead. “You could have died, and the first thing you have to say about it is about the store?” He laughs.

  “I know how much it means to you and how hard you worked to make it the business it was. I wasn’t the person who broke in the first two times, but I am to blame for it being on fire.”

  “No, don’t even think that. Mack is the one who’s at fault. Not you.”

  “Had I never shown up in Wind Valley, he never would have either.”

  “The guy is mental no matter where you are, Sky.”

  “I know, but—” I stop myself. “I don’t want to be responsible for anything else ruining your life. If I just go home, back to Seattle, then I can—”

  “Move back? Why would you do that?” He jerks back as if someone had slapped him.

  “If I move back, the trouble I seem to have following me can’t be brought onto you and your family. A lot more people could have been hurt, Luke. What if it were you, or your mom, or even your sister? I could never forgive myself for that.”

  “I don’t care about all that. I mean, I do, but none of it matters without you.”

  “We’ve only been dating a few months, and even though I’ve fallen so far in love with you, that’s exactly why I have to do this,” I tell him.

  “You love me?”

  “More than you’ll ever know,” I say. Great, here come more tears.

  “Sky, if you love me anything like I love you, you can’t leave now.”

  And tears.

  “I’m so sorry, Luke. I have to.”

  Luke turns, looking away from me. His head drops. “Is that really what you want?”

  No.

  “It’s the right choice.”

  “But is it what you want?” he repeats.

  “What I want and what I need to do to keep you safe are two different things, Luke.”

  “I’m not safe if I don’t have you,” he says.

  “Don’t say that.”

  “It’s the truth. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life than in that moment when I thought I would lose you forever. You came here to find out who you are and to do what you want—don’t let go of that. Mack is going to jail for a really long time, Sky. Shit, his cousin helped him find you and then called your parents to tell on him when he thought you were in danger. The only trouble that follows you is no longer a threat, Sky. Don’t leave because you think it’s best; leave only if that is what you really want.” He kneels next to my bed, still holding my hand.

  “I love you, Sky, and if what you really want is to be here with me, I want that more than anything else in this entire world.”

  How do I still have tears left to cry?

  “I want to stay with you,” I whisper. He leans down to kiss me but changes his mind when he spots the gash on my lip. I don’t need a mirror to know it’s there. I feel like there is golf ball stuck to my face. He places a kiss on my forehead instead.

  “I’m sure Eloise and Maxwell Atwood were too busy to hear the news,” I say, jumping back to his mention of my parents. I’m sure the message went right to my father’s assistant and that was it. It’s probably still in a pile of unread messages.

  “Well”—Luke’s face mashes up with too many expressions for me to decide if what he’s about to say is good or bad—“your parents may or may not be in the waiting room,
and I may or may not have made the best impression on your dad. Not that I think I matters, but yeah.”

  “My parents are here?”

  My heart starts to race, and for the first time since I woke, I wish I had more painkillers.

  “Yeah, do you want to talk to them?”

  “No,” I answer quickly. “I mean, yes, but not right now.”

  I need to figure out how I feel about this first. They came here? For me? They’ve never shown concern for me before, and now they’ve flown to another state. Is it because they thought I was going to die? Or do they actually care? Maybe even miss me …

  “Okay, well, can I get you anything?” Luke asks, pulling up the chair to sit right next to the bed and lacing his fingers with mine.

  “Just talk to me about nothing and everything until I fall asleep,” I tell him, and he does. I think he talks for a full three minutes before everything goes black.

  * * *

  I think I’m going to be sick.

  I told Luke after I woke up the second time that I was ready to see my parents. Which was a total lie, but considering they most likely won’t leave until they get to speak to me, I figure I better just get it over with. Now I’m just sitting in my room, alone, since Beth left. Something is going on with her. I know this is an emotional situation, but she cried, too. Of all the friends I’ve made here, Beth is the most stable. Then she said she was late for something and rushed out of here.

  “Sky, are you ready?” Luke asks, holding the door open so I can see only him.

  I nod.

  Luke steps to the side as my parents enter the room. It’s obvious my father is upset. I can’t remember if his hair was this white when I left. It’s only been a few months.

  My mother is playing the devastated mother role beautifully. She’s crying, loudly I might add.

  “Oh, Skylar, I was worried about you,” she sobs. She doesn’t even step close to the bed or check to make sure her daughter is in one piece. Nope, not my mom. She dabs at the fake tears with a Kleenex. Then she looks at my father, like “okay, I’ve done my part.”

  I follow her gaze and have no idea how to process what I’m looking at.

  My father hasn’t moved as he stands at the end of my bed. Luke walks around him to stand opposite my mother. He sits, grabbing my hand as he does so.

  The moment I see my father’s chest begin to shake, I know I can’t look at him. Maxwell Atwood has never shed a tear in my whole life. Not one time can I remember him being upset over anything. If I look at him now though, I’ll know it was me. That I broke him down. That my life was in danger enough to finally show me the kind of father I always wanted.

  I look to Luke, who isn’t watching me. He’s watching my dad.

  “Skylar,” my dad’s voice grabs my attention. “I’m sorry, so, so sorry.”

  He drops to sit on the end of my bed. “I didn’t know.” His lip is shaking. “I’ve never wanted for anything. I was handed the company when my father passed. I never thought twice about any of it.” He finds my uninjured leg and squeezes my ankle. “I thought if it was everything I ever needed, it would be good enough for my daughter.”

  “It was good enough—it just isn’t the life I want.”

  He nods slowly.

  Was this his plan? To come in here and immediately go into everything we haven’t said but should have said a long time ago? My mother is the same old person she always has been, but my father, he’s changed. And I don’t have to question it. I can see it. He is nothing like the father I left. I left a man who didn’t care enough to apologize or to cry or listen to me when I spoke. The man in front of me is doing all those things.

  “Perhaps I should have asked you or paid more attention to the woman you have become. Maybe I would have noticed that you are nothing like I was at that age. And Mack”—he chokes up, his hand covers his heart—“I had no idea. When I called his father to tell him what happened, he had the balls to reveal he knew something wasn’t right when Mack stopped taking his medication the week you left. His medication.” Dad stands, paces for a moment before leaning on the wall near the door. “How did I miss that? How could I have overlooked something so huge?”

  “Maxwell, if we want to make the jet’s flight time, we had better go,” my mother says.

  “Sit down,” he snaps. “You almost lost your daughter and your concern right now is to make a flight on time? Either you sit there and be quiet, you actually help your daughter, or you leave. I don’t care what you choose. It’s time we put Skylar first.”

  I don’t cry when she gets up and walks out. Neither does my father.

  “I’m sorry about your mother.” He shakes his head.

  “Don’t be. She’s the same old mother I’ve always known.”

  “I’ll be in town for a few days, as long as you need me and until you are ready to come home.”

  “Actually, Dad, I’m going to stay here.”

  “In Wyoming?”

  “Yes.”

  “With this young man, I assume?”

  We both look at Luke, whose eyes are wide with shock. From what, I’m not sure since a lot has happened in the last five minutes.

  “Yes,” I answer, more sure than anything else before.

  “Okay then, we’ll make arrangements for banking and get you a car here and a house. I’ll start looking for housekeepers and—”

  “Dad.”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t want any of that. The house, the car, the housekeeper, or even the money.”

  “None of it?”

  “None.”

  “But where will you live? I don’t enjoy the idea of my daughter sleeping in the park again.” His face wrinkles at the thought.

  “You told him that?” I glance at Luke.

  “Well … I … it was a heated moment and I wanted to make him feel like shit,” he answers.

  “It worked,” my dad says.

  “Good.” Luke nods.

  And that’s the moment my father first smiles at Luke.

  “As long as you’re not sleeping on the street, let me know how I can help,” my dad says, squeezing my wrist gently and turning for the door.

  “One more thing.” He pauses in the doorway to face me and Luke. “Your trust fund will always be yours to spend as you please, and I insist that you, at the very least, keep access to it for emergencies.”

  “Okay,” I say, not arguing because the bookstore won’t rebuild itself, and yes, taking the money feels wrong, but Luke deserves for someone to start looking out for him for a change. If being his sugar momma helps him out. I’ll do it.

  Luke gets out of his chair to kiss my cheek when my father is gone.

  “Should we talk about what just happened?”

  “No.” I smile.

  “You’re okay?”

  “I’ve never been better.”

  Still holding my hand, he sits back down.

  As long as I’m with Luke, life will never be as amazing as it is now.

  Turns out, the moment his sisters broke into the store and blamed it on me was the moment I needed in order to find Luke. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.

  Epilogue

  One month later …

  Skylar

  Crutches and winter in Wyoming just don’t mix.

  Luke grabs my arms, again, to stable me on the ice.

  “I told you I would just carry you in,” he says.

  “I know, but I need to learn how to do it on my own. You won’t always be there for me when I need you. You still have a life, and we occasionally have different schedules.”

  “Yeah, I was actually wanting to talk to you about that,” he says, slowing to a stop.

  The BA’s door flies open, and Beth pokes her head out.

  “Hey there, roomie.” She smiles at me.

  Since the apartment above the bookstore isn’t livable after the fire—at least not until the renovations on the building are done—I moved in with Beth. Luke wasn’t ver
y happy, but I didn’t want to put any more problems on him. He repeatedly tells me I am not a problem. I still put my foot down. Even though Luke shows up every day, I lucked out that Beth was looking for a roommate.

  “Think you could switch my clothes to the dryer when you go back home? I forgot earlier,” she asks.

  “Yeah, sure, but aren’t you almost off?”

  “I am, but I have a date.”

  “What? Who?” Luke and I ask in unison.

  “None of your business.” When she answers, she’s staring at Luke and not me. I’m going to take that as a sign that she will tell me later.

  “Well, you’ll have to tell me all about it when you get home.”

  She responds with a wink.

  “Okay, move, Beth. Sky needs to get out of the snow,” Luke says, changing the subject.

  “I won’t break,” I tell him as a crutch slips on the ice again.

  “You just might.” He laughs.

  Beth holds the door open as we enter. It’s the BA’s post-Christmas Christmas party, so the place is closed except for friends or family members of those who work here.

  Christmas decorations are everywhere. On the ceiling are those paper streamers I saw them once in a movie. The ones made out of craft paper looped together. It doesn’t take me long to spot the odd choice of colors.

  “Shouldn’t those be red and green or something?” I ask.

  “Yeah, they probably should be, but I guess when Conner and Logan told the kids what to do, they left out mentioning using Christmas colors. Spring, fall, winter, and Christmas it is.”

  I laugh and it stings a little. Life has been a bit rough since I left the hospital. The good news is, I can see out of both eyes now that the swelling is down, and my lip is almost back to normal, enough at least that I can now kiss Luke anytime I want.

  “Sky, over here,” Beth calls out from where she stands in the corner with Sara and Kelsey. I don’t know Kelsey very well, we only hung out with her a handful of times, but she is glowing. Luke said she and Ethan just found out they are expecting their third child in the spring. He also said not to drink the Parker or Brian water because those people are popping out kids like they’re bubble gum.